ARRL DX CW - M/2 @VE3JM

When I was young and without a station or just a small one, the only way to do an effective multi-op contest operation was from others' stations. I don't do it very much these days. When my friend Vlad VE3JM asked me to join his team for ARRL DX CW, I welcomed the opportunity. I operated there several years ago for CQ WW SSB. His station has changed a lot since then.

As readers likely know, I have a "big gun" station of my own now, and that I've hosted multi-op teams for two contests so far: CQ WW SSB and CW. There are good reasons for operating from another station for a major contest despite having my own big station:

• Opportunity to team up with contesters I haven't operated with before
• See how other big guns design their stations
  
• Learn new strategies and operating styles
• Learn to use and assess other software packages, equipment and switching systems
• Less worry about problems arising and the stress of being the one to fix them
• Have fun!
  

There was one more reason: my station is experiencing several technical problems that would have seriously impacted a contest operation. None are major but it was impossible to deal with them in time for the contest. With luck and good weather I hope to be ready to try another multi-op for the ARRL DX Phone contest in March. If problems persist I may enter single-band single-op.

All of us were relaxed enough not to cause conflicts. Rather than five keyed up contesters fighting for the two operating seats, we were all happy to cede the seat when another wanted operating time. When an operator needed a break there was always another ready to step in. When problems arose we calmly worked around them. We were tolerant of our differing tactics for mixing running with hunting. All in all, we worked well as a team.

Antennas

There were several antenna problems. Since Vlad works and has limited time to attend to the station they could not be resolved before the contest. Even so we did well. Put enough aluminum up high and magic happens despite not always being able to turn the antennas or use all the yagis in a stack.

We had stacks on 20 and 15 meters, two tri-banders, a 10 meter yagi, two yagis on 40, an 80 meter 4-square and one of the big towers served as a vertical on 160 meters. There was one receive antenna.

More antennas would have been nice but, again, that has to wait until he has time. The picture shows his newest tower with only an XM240 at 140'. There is ample room for more antennas. With time they are certain to appear.

Equipment

Both stations had venerable Elecraft K3 transceivers and pan adaptors. I've only ever used the K3 during contests at other stations so there is a brief learning curve every time. The pan adaptor controls took getting used to since I had never used that K3 accessory. There were occasional receiving artifacts that may have been due to IMD or overload. 

The third station consisted of a Flex transceiver and a multi-band vertical that was hastily erected. This station was just for listening. It could have been used to work a few multipliers except that there was no interlock with the other two stations. Despite that constraint, it served very well for checking out multipliers and band conditions by one of the three otherwise idle operators.

In the picture (credit VE3JM) you can see me on the far right at the third station while Nick VE3EY (foreground) and Dave VE3KG operate the main stations.

Amplifiers were a manually tuned AL1200 and an auto-tune Flex PGXL. Despite the automatic band switching and tuning, the PGXL cannot be ignored entirely. It reacted to antenna matching difficulties such as one yagi that became intermittent, and again when we were hit by a snowstorm that altered impedances of the antennas. Although the AL1200 had to be manually tuned, it was easy to compensate for impedance changes and the grounded grid design was tolerant of imperfect tuning. 

High power BPF and tri-plexers are by Pavel VA6AM. They work extremely well. I have his prototype 6-band low power BPF in my station, which also work very well.

DXLog

I've never used DXLog before, but I've wanted to give it a trial run for some time. It was a necessity for this contest since the antenna control and automation are integrated with DXLog. VE3JM uses the same basic system developed by K3JO for the K1LZ super-station. Perhaps it was my bias due to my long experience with N1MM that I didn't really like it. That said, it did some things very well and has features that I have not (yet) considered for my home brew station automation.

The screenshot is that of the third station. The screen includes the Flex system and a browser window monitoring the contest scoreboard. The log entry window is at the bottom left. This is far busier than the two main stations that each has two displays. The lack of screen real estate wasn't a problem since the stations wasn't used for making contacts. The information display was all we needed to monitor our contest operations and to assist with the choice of operating tactics.

One of things I didn't like was the default colour schemes and fonts used in several windows that are not easy to read with older eyes. We made a few changes to increase the colour contrast. Most of the time it didn't matter since the operators were focussed on only a few windows. The window for available multipliers and contacts was easy to read and used to rapidly pounce on stations. I could run through the list and often work them faster than when running. One call was all it took in most cases.

The station automation and antenna selection is integrated into DXLog using APIs. I prefer to have the choice of whether to use DXLog or N1MM. For that reason I use RadioInfo UDP broadcasts for my station automation system. I eventually plan to enhance my software to accept RadioInfo messages sent by DXLog. They appear to be similar and rich enough to support the same functionality I have with N1MM. I don't want to be locked into either contest logger.

Contest scoreboard

This was the first time I've used the contest scoreboard. It never struck me before as useful or interesting. Vlad set it up for us to track our score against the other major M/2 competitor in Canada: VA2WA. I won't say that I'm hooked but I was impressed and it did indeed keep us motivated.

When our score was close to them or other M/2 you could feel the tension and motivation in the shack. I don't know if the rate increased because of it but we became more aware of available multipliers and chased them. We started slow on Friday due to technical issues so it took many hours to catch up to the competition. In the end we did and finally overtook them. Although that was our primary objective, we also watched how we did relative to our closest American competitors N2NL and K9RX. We had little hope of catching K9CT and W3LPL, the former with superior antennas and the latter also having a superior location. Nevertheless it was fun to watch.

Racking up the QSOs and multipliers takes time so it doesn't help to pay too close attention. We were always curious about which bands they appeared to be running or chasing mults. That made us rethink our tactics: were they the best or should we try something different. Most competitors reported band break downs which were very useful to understanding what they were doing in near real time. I enjoyed that aspect of the competition so much that I let others operate more so that I could spend time considering strategy. When advisable I would make suggestions to the operators. 

I can't say that the contest scoreboard helped us do as well as we did but it certainly made us pursue tactics that would boost our score. It is unlikely that I'll use the scoreboard often other than for multi-ops. I am less curious about the activity of others when I operate by myself.

Operating styles and tactics

The fundamental strategy for an M/2 entry can be summarized by one word: run. The only reasons not to run are to chase multipliers or to call other runners. The S & P sessions are brief and intense, and are usually interspersed with CQs. That is, when there is no response to a CQ you click on a spot, call and hopefully work them. 

Whether or not you work them, you immediately return to the run frequency and CQ again. Speed is of the essence. If you fail to work them, repeat the cycle.

S & P sessions last longer only when runs are particularly dry. A band change is often the more productive option. Band changes are otherwise only justified to run faster or to chase multipliers. Counting band changes is critical since each station is permitted 6 per clock hour (e.g. 1300Z to 1459Z); 8 are allowed in CQ WW.  Changing bands and back again counts as two band changes so you have to pay close attention to the countdown window (DXLog and N1MM both have this feature). We would use unused band changes late in the hour to chase multipliers just before they reset to 6.

The third operator, when there was one, monitors activity levels and available multipliers and makes suggestions to the operators on desirable bands and openings, and spotted multipliers. Runs from a big gun station can be intense so the operator might not immediately notice the spots. In all cases it was the operator that made the choice of what to do and when.

Other tactics were minor in comparison to the ones mentioned above. For example, which antennas to use, individually or in a stack, 

Those who were not operating did errands for the operators. This included delivering food, drinks and snacks. There was almost always someone on deck, ready to jump in when an operator needs a break. With 5 operators there was plenty of time to chat and sleep. Since I'm a nighthawk, I left most of the high band running to the others during the day so that I could operate overnight. My time to quit was after the gray line openings on the low bands were done soon after dawn.

Late in the contest we celebrated every multiplier and eagerly watched the scoreboard to see how it would change our position. The scores were often very close and every multiplier or brief run had a large impact. It was tremendous fun.

Conditions

This was one of those rare contests when propagation conditions were exceptionally good. What was particularly unusual was that all 6 bands were hot. 10 meters opened at sunrise and didn't close until hours after sunset. 160 meters delivered openings in all directions and the multiplier counts show it. We worked at least one QRP station in Europe. Even 20 meters performed well throughout the day. It is often suppressed midday by D-layer absorption that increases during a solar maximum.

The solar flux was high but not very high. Days of quiet geomagnetic conditions leading up to the contest appeared to be a major contributing factor.

A good example of the low absorption was the propagation on 40 and 80 meters. Our run rate to Europe continued for hours after their sunrise. We were astonished to be called by Europeans on 40 meters as far south as Italy a full 3 hours after their sunrise. The daylight openings were shorter on 80 meters but still exceptional. I haven't seen such quiet conditions in a major contest since the solar cycle minimum. 

Quiet geomagnetic conditions that last for days are unusual at a solar maximum. Sunspots are constantly erupting and sending radiation and particle streams our way. Nor were there any flares to cause radio blackouts during the daytime. 

Yet geography still matters. Stations south of us were able to reach a little further for a little longer. That raised their QSO totals relative to those of us further north. With the bulk of contest QSOs between North America and Europe (80% or higher), geomagnetic latitude matters. Multiplier potential was more equitable since those come from all directions. We were not disadvantaged in that respect.

Going home

After sharing a post-contest meal we went our separate ways. Leaving was not easy. Not because of the camaraderie but because of the awful weather and road conditions. We were beset by heavy snow squalls and high winds that made driving treacherous. Although the plows were doing their best on a Sunday evening, speeds were slow and the accident potential high. 

When near zero visibility whiteouts greeted us on the major highways, the semis took control and kept me safely on the roadway. Luckily we all got home without incident. It was not the best way to end the weekend. The photo at right gives you an idea what it was like, except that the highway was wider, the traffic heavier and it was dark with headlights only serving to blind drivers from the bright reflection off the heavy snowflakes.

Despite the commute challenge, the contest was well worth the trouble. As many have noted, conditions were outstanding on all bands and the activity high. Many records fell that weekend. If our score holds up we will have set a new Canadian M/2 record. That would be a nice accomplishment for a fun weekend with good friends.only show totals